Beloit College baseball team rebounds with win in Florida

AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Beloit College’s baseball team broke a 1-1 tie by scoring four runs in the top of the fifth inning and went on to post an 8-1 victory over Stockton University on Tuesday in the RussMatt Invitational.

The 2023 Midwest Conference Position Player of the Year, Matt O’Leary, put the Bucs on top 2-1 with an RBI single that scored Jack Alport. Brett Kiger reached on an error by the shortstop that scored O’Leary. Evan Zenger added an RBI single and Matt Souza belted a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.

The Bucs (3-3) tacked on a run in the seventh inning when O’Leary stole third and came home on a throwing error. They added two more final runs when Alport’s base hit to center scored Drew Hanson and RJ Pouzar.

Freshman right-hander Ben Schweit from Simi Valley, Calif., started on the mound for the Bucs and picked up his first win. He allowed only one earned run on five hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out four. Miles Souza allowed only one hit in two scoreless innings and struck out three. Joshua Stern worked a scoreless ninth, striking out one.

Alport, O’Leary, Connor Vogel and Souza each had two hits to lead a 12-hit Beloit attack. O’Leary had three stolen bases.

• UP NEXT: The Bucs will play UW-Superior at 8 a.m. CT on Tuesday and then have an off day before playing Greenville University at 8:45 a.m. CT on Thursday.

• LINESCORE:

BELOIT 8, STOCKTON 1

Beloit College 000 140 120 — 8 12 0

Stockton 000 100 000 — 1 6 2

Leading hitters: BC, Alport 2x5, 1 run, 2 rbi; O’Leary 2x4, 2 runs, 1 rbi; Vogel 2x5, 1 run; Souza 2x4, 1 rbi; Love 1x3, 1 run, 1 rbi. S, Gatti 2x4, 1 run.

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BC, Schweiz (W,1-0) 6.0-5-1-1-3-4; Souza 2.0-1-0-0-0-3; Stern 1.0-0-0-0-0-1. S, Maria (L,0-1) 5.0-7-5-4-1-2; Snyder 2.1-2-3-2-2-4; Miller 1.2-3-0-0-0-2.